Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday rejected Bharatiya Janata Party's charge that the Congress was taking a 'U-turn' on the Insurance Bill, saying that there are "no double standards" on the issue.
The new 10 per cent dividend tax will be payable only on dividend income over and above Rs 10 lakh threshold in a year, according to an amendment to the Finance Bill 2016 approved by Lok Sabha.
A Bill seeking to give more operational flexibility to the Reserve Bank of India in the conduct of monetary policy was passed in Lok Sabha on Friday.
Government introduced two Bills in Lok Sabha on Friday -- one seeking to phase out central sales tax in four stages and eventually abolish it in three years and another to give more operational flexibility to the Reserve Bank of India.
Social Justice Minister Thaavarchand Gehlot sought to allay doubts raised by several opposition members about the legislation's fate if challenged in the Supreme Court, saying he can say with confidence that the apex court will accept it.
The first meeting of the newly-constituted joint committee comprising ministers and civil society activists to draft the Lokpal Bill will be held on Saturday.
Government strategists are trying to ensure that the requisite 16 of the 31 states ratify the Bill by the end of this month
The finance minister said the consensus between the Centre and states is required to amendment the constitution for implementing goods and services tax.
The Congress has reasons to enjoy the BJP's discomfiture. After all, the Insurance Bill was introduced by the UPA government in 2008 but was constantly blocked by the BJP on some pretext or the other which was then in the Opposition.
Will the so-called Third Front partners be able to retain their ambitious unity till the end of this month, when the Finance Bill comes for voting in the Lok Sabha? Doubts are hovering around the Yadav duo Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav -- as the two have taken different stands in the past one week on the issue.
"We are willing to speak to any of their leaders," Jaitley was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News.
The draft Companies Bill 2008 has identified the three key managerial positions as chief executive officer, chief finance officer and company secretary. By recognising these three key managerial positions, the Bill is fixing responsibility to bring out a system which is more accountable, transparent and workable, according to an official at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The current session of Parliament may be extended to enable the passage of bills, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu told Bharatiya Janata Party MPs in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The government banks on the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party to push the Insurance and LIC Bills in the next Parliament session, but it seems to have adopted different tactics on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.
The Union Cabinet Thursday approved the Contempt of Courts Amendment Bill, 2004, which seeks to liberalise the law by introducing "truth" as a defence in contempt proceedings.
The National Democratic Alliance government is keen on the passage of the Insurance Bill before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US to send out a message that economic reforms are back on track in India. Anita Katyal reports
Former Union law minister and civil activist Shanti Bhushan has urged the government to hold an open debate on the Lokpal Bill so that the people of India get to know the stance taken by the various members of the drafting committee.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairman of the Lokpal Bill Drafting committee, is yet to respond to Bhushan's demand.Bhushan, who is one of the five representatives of the civil society on the panel, said the government was backtracking.
'Politics is a game of public perception and my father felt that by his long disappearances, Rahul Gandhi was losing the battle of perception.'
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday announced a slew of concessions, including a 1 per cent interest subsidy for lower and middle income housing loans, and exempted road repair and maintenance services from the ambit of service tax.
The government on Monday said that matters regarding Chinese intrusion can't be discussed in Parliament as it concerns the security of the country.
Government's effort to end impasse in Parliament by reaching out to BJP for early passage of key finance bills on Friday came a cropper as the opposition indicated that it is unlikely to cooperate unless it is assured that JPC chairman P C Chacko's draft report on 2G will be rejected.
Following is the text of the Gazette Notification issued by the government constituting the Joint Drafting Committee comprising ministers and civil society activists to prepare the draft Lok Pal Bill.
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) pulled up the government for a total policy failure, resulting in grave economic crisis.
An all party meeting to seek views across the political spectrum on the issue of inclusion of the prime minister under the Lokpal Bill is likely to be held in the first week of next month.
The levy of retrospective tax on the UK's Cairn Energy Plc is a tale of bizarre twists and turns that saw its attached shares being sold in May 2018 amid the passing of the baton from a full-time finance minister to interim one and the talks at the highest level to resolve the dispute, to claims that levy of back taxes was a result of an investigation into Panama Papers leak. The government late last month refunded about Rs 7,900 crore it had collected from selling residual shares of the British firm in its erstwhile India unit, seizing dividend and withholding tax refunds, to settle an eight-year-old dispute that had tarred the country's reputation as an investment destination. But, this did not come about easily. For seven years, the establishment vehemently justified in courts and outside seeking of Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes plus interest and penalty from a firm that gave India its biggest onshore oil discovery.
The broader NSE Nifty sank 177.65 points or 1.53 per cent to 11,419.25.
Buyer to pay tax on gains made on undervalued property purchase.
The ministry was expecting savings this year to be around Rs 20,000 crore.
The Bill could be referred to the Parliamentary Committee for scrutiny
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday drove over to Rahul Gandhi's 12 Tughlak Lane bungalow to personally invite the Congress vice-president to his daughter Sonali's wedding.
'If something unfortunate happens to an earning member, the family loses the crucial income which would have gone towards paying off debts, meeting the cost of children's higher education, or towards the upkeep of elderly parents.'
'He is exposing the failings of the BJP, which is rankling the party.'
Tata Group-owned Air India has informed the Centre that aircraft lessors wish to set up their special purpose vehicles (SPVs) outside India since they aren't enthused about the Indian 'legal structure' and are loath to take risks. Indian airlines have a combined fleet of about 700 planes; over 85 per cent are on lease. A majority of lessors are based in Ireland due to its attractive tax policy, light-touch regulations, and swift legal system.
The uncertainty over the implementation of the new tax continues as the Finance Bill has not been passed by the Parliament. Finance minister P Chidambaram had announced in his Budget proposal that the levy would come into effect from April 1. The uncertainty over the implementation of the new tax continues as the Finance Bill has not been passed by the Parliament. P Chidambaram had announced in his Budget proposal that the levy would come into effect from April 1.
The standoff over Women's Reservation Bill ended on Thursday with the government announcing that the proposed legislation would be brought in the Lok Sabha only after consultations with all sections.
Charging the finance minister with leaving an off-budget fiscal overhang of Rs 300,000 crore (Rs 3,000 billion), which could wreck the country's economy, Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday demanded resignation of P Chidambaram to escape "dismissal". Singh warned that the country was heading for the worst kind of food inflation and the off-budget subsidy on fertiliser and petroleum would leave a serious dent on the government finances.
With the government devising alternative ways to trail black money, the Banking Transaction Tax will be withdrawn by the end of this year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. The alternative methods to catch people with unaccounted money would be provided by the provisions in the new Money Laundering Law, Chidambaram said.
In a significant development, India is believed to have placed a funding request of around $55 million in its first call with the Pandemic Fund of the World Bank, sources said. The fund has been set up to finance critical investments in a bid to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. It was created in the aftermath of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
The Modi government is learning to deal with the reality that it does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha.
The government's subsidies on food, fertilisers, LPG and kerosene are pegged at Rs 5.96 lakh crore in the current fiscal, over 2.5-fold jump from the initial budget estimates as the Centre distributed additional foodgrains free of cost to help poor mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020 Budget, presented in the pre-COVID scare, the government had estimated the subsidy bill at Rs 227,794 crore. However, all the budget estimates, have undergone major revisions as the country imposed strict lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19.
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